Culture abounds at Children’s Museum

Thursday

Mar 7, 2013 at 3:15 AM

DOVER — The face of New Hampshire is slowly changing as families from other countries settle in the Granite State. Gallery 6 at the Children’s Museum of New Hampshire is celebrating this growing diversity with new exhibit called Mosaic — Exploring Our Multicultural Neighborhood. This exhibit is on display from March 8 through May 27.

“One of the most important lessons today’s children can learn is that people are all amazingly similar, despite regional or cultural differences,” explained Tess Feltes, Gallery Coordinator at the Children’s Museum. “Mosaic is an exhibit of stories, photographs, art and objects loaned by members of various nationalities in our community, with the aim of teaching children that we live in a cultural mosaic right here in New Hampshire. Through this exhibit, the Children’s Museum of New Hampshire celebrates different cultures and their identities and contributions in order to position each other as friends rather than strangers. This is accomplished by sharing art, music, food and customs that interest children everywhere.”

The Mosaic exhibit features unique photographs, stories and personal objects such as clothing, toys, artwork, books and folklore, showing how people of different cultures live, eat, dress, play and learn. Cultures represented in the show include the Azores, Belarus, China, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Iran, Lebanon, Mali, Mexico, Morocco and Rwanda.

On Wednesday, April 17 from 2:30-4:30 p.m., the Children’s Museum of NH will host an indoor Multicultural Block Party where visitors get to know each other by sharing music, stories, food, fashions and fun. There will be demonstrations of traditional Mexican art, Chinese brush painting, a traditional costume fashion show, games, dancing, cultural cuisine from local restaurants, and more. All the festivities are included with paid museum admission, with no charge for museum members.

The Mosaic exhibit can be viewed in Gallery 6 during regular business hours at the Children’s Museum of New Hampshire: Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; and Sunday, noon-5 pm. No admission fee is required to view the gallery only. Regular admission applies for families who wish to also explore the rest of the museum.

The not-for-profit Children’s Museum of New Hampshire is located at 6 Washington St. For more information, please call the museum at (603) 742-2002 or visit www.childrens-museum.org